Approval Rules

Zetadocs Approvals allows you to create rules which govern how approval requests flow around your organization. Rules are simple logic statements that let you create a set of controls which can mirror your existing business logic. These rules build layer on layer, utilizing information from your accounting software, to intelligently build a list of the approvers who need to see an individual approval request.

A brief introduction on rules is available below, for specific details on working with rules please see the following topics:

•Creating Rules

•Rules - Worked Example

•Managing Existing  Rules

•Enabling/Disabling Rules

•Deleting Rules

Example Scenario

The scenario below will take you through a simple example of how rules can be used to control who approves an item.

Existing Business Requirements:

Staff are required to sign for the items they order to confirm receipt of goods. Charlie Violet the manager of the Marketing team is required to sign off all purchases over £200 for his team, but will only do so if they have confirmed they've received the goods. Phyllis Green the Finance Director is required to sign off all purchases over £500 in the company.

Manual System

Paul Scarlet works in the marketing team and buys £800 of promotional materials for an upcoming campaign. The existing manual system used by our example company in this situation works as follows:

•The invoice arrives and is entered into the accounting software by April in the accounts team.

•She looks at who's name is on the invoice then requests confirmation from Paul that the goods have arrived as expected.

•She then notes that the invoice exceeds Paul agreed sign-off limit and requires further sign off.

•She investigates and discovers that Charlie is the next approver, the document is sent to Charlie who approves the invoice.

•It returns to April who then sends it to Phyllis for final approval.

Approval Rules

To meet these business requirements with Zetadocs Approvals we use rules to break them down as follows:

•Rule - All items in the accounting software with a Purchaser Code of PS require Paul to approve them.

•Rule - Charlie approves all purchases with a Department Code of MKT over £200 in value.

•Rule - Phyllis approves all purchases in the organization over £500.

Zetadocs Approvals Solution

April goes to Zetadocs Approvals and on starting the approval request, Zetadocs applies the above rules in order to determine the approval workflow that is required.

•The Purchase Code is PS the first approver is Paul Scarlet.

•The amount is over £200 and the Department code is MKT so it requires approval by Charlie.

•The amount is over £500 so it requires approval by Phyllis.

Result: April is presented with the recommended workflow of Paul, Charlie and then Phyllis. April clicks the Start button and the approval request is sent to the first approver Paul for approval.

Now that you have a flavor of how the system works lets look at how you build rules in Zetadocs Approvals.